KY review – D’Arranged Marriage at Bangsar Actor Studio

So I finally had the chance to go to Bangsar Actor studio to catch up one of my hobbies of old, live staged show. The show was D’Arranged Marriage performed by “Those Indian Guys” from New Zealand, introduced to me by Lenny.

Believe it or not, yours truely used to perform in dramas. I was once the main character, a begger, conspire with the daughter to cheat in a comedy. Another time I was a trishaw rider, and in yet another show I was one of the villians of the monkey god story. That was years ago, with the group “Dramatic Boundary” back in Penang, performing mostly in Mandarin. Strange as it might sound, but people actually PAY to watch us.. ahh.. memory.

Now lets get back to this one. This show has been touring at least since middle of 2004 and been around in different countries, it was the second time they perform in Malaysia.

D’Arranged Marriage tells the story of a young Indian boy called Sanjay who spends most of his life avoiding the issue of an arranged marriage. His nagging family finally gets the better of him but to his surprise he discovers that Neenu, the prospective bride, is the one! Unfortunately ‘the one’ is already dating the village idiot Rundeep…

The show completely blew me away, the whole show was performed by only one guy – Rajeev Varma. He was very lively, taking up 9 or 10 characters, mainly by using different voices and gestures. There were also dancing, playing crickets, and the main character’s parents getting it on, all acted by Rajeev alone. It was hillarious and at the same time, very very impressive. The 57 ringgit spent on the ticket was well worth it.

I don’t think I’ve seen a better live perfomance yet, and will definately make a point to go to the Actor Studio more often.